Revised FCC Ex Parte Draft Seeks Filings for All Lobbying
A revised draft rulemaking on ex parte filings would require a filing any time an FCC member, aide or bureau staffer is lobbied regarding a proceeding, commission officials said. The current rules require documentation when someone from outside the FCC covers ground not included in previous filings, such as comments on proceedings. Ex parte filings are often but not always made in these situations (CD Sept 14 p1), the officials said. The documents sometimes are so brief that they don’t reveal what was discussed.
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The item, from the Office of General Counsel, was circulated by Chairman Julius Genachowski as a new version of one sent to the eighth floor for a vote in June by Commissioner Michael Copps when he was running the FCC (CD July 15 p5), commission officials said Tuesday. The rulemaking was scheduled for a vote at Thursday’s commission meeting, but it may be approved later because the meeting is being postponed. (See the separate story in this issue.) The general counsel’s office revised the item after holding a workshop on the issue (CD Oct 29 p6).
The new item probably won’t be contentious, a commission official said. President Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project, a critic of enforcement of the ex parte rules, said he expects it to be approved 5-0. “Overall, I am very pleased with the basic direction in which the commission is going,” he said. “I might have small quibbles with some of the details, but this is a major move in favor of transparency and greatly assists members of the public. I'd like to see some specific requirements that staff has to review ex partes or at least call attention to ex partes that are on their face deficient, if there were on its face some sort of self-executing enforcement mechanism.”
The draft doesn’t seem to offer a way for staff members to enforce ex parte rules, commission officials said. It does pose questions about how compliance and enforcement can be improved, they said. It seeks comment on penalties for ex parte rule violations including making inadequate filings, an FCC official said. The draft doesn’t specify how staff members can decide whether a filing adequately covers everything discussed in a meeting, the official said.
The item would expand the range of circumstances requiring ex parte filings, commission officials said. The draft proposes that an ex parte be longer than a brief statement when it concerns filed comments, they said. It tentatively concludes that what was discussed during a meeting must be summarized in a way that could involve citing page numbers of filings referred to during the lobbying, an FCC official said. A commission spokesman declined to comment on the draft.
The financial interests section of the new draft seems different from the summer version, but the goal remains that filings should disclose who the ultimate owner of companies lobbying the FCC are, commission officials said. Comment is sought on the subject, they said. The draft suggests several ways for companies lobbying to report who holds ownership stakes, they said. It notes that licensees have the information on file with the FCC, an agency official said.